Monday, May 2, 2016

Where Has Integrity Gone?

“I meant what I said and I said what I meant,” said
Horton the Elephant.

Except for Horton, how would
you react if someone looked you in the eyes and said that line?Would you be able to take them at face
value?How often do we expect someone to
follow up on his or her words, or year after year tell us one thing and then do
the opposite? Is this someone you know personally, at work, a volunteer
or even an elected official?

This is not an article
declaring or deriding our political process, though as we go through the
Presidential primary season, some of our candidates might easily seem to fall
into my weekly thoughts.Let us be
honest, for all the public outcry over the Senate and the House of
Representatives passing the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), which legally
allows certain political persons to be excluded from the law, and most of
voters passed the bill without reading the voluminous documents.That election cycle, I did not agree with the
process and refused to vote for the standing Congressmen, whether Democrat or
Republican.As unfavorable as the polls
were, most elected officials were voted back in.For a government, that Abraham Lincoln stated
was “…of the people, by the people, for the people…” why do we continually
re-elect those that do not do our bidding?These are our representatives who tell us what they think they want us
to hear, get elected, then do what they want.

That is an easy target.How about the people we come across where we
work or volunteer.How often do we sit
in a meeting and someone says they will handle what is being discussed. Then at the next meeting, the item was not
addressed, and the conversation feels, in the immortal words of Yogi Berra,
“like déjà vu all over again?”In other
environments, there are times where we look towards leadership for
guidance.Guidance, believe it or not,
is most effective when based on action not words, which means that we are more
apt to follow in the footsteps of the leader, as opposed to words expressed or
written.Why?Because as humans, we follow the dictate that
believing is seeing.

Why do people not step up and
what is the lesson that I am driving at?

As if in answer to my
question, I received the following from Darren Hardy:

Looks like one of the reasons
people do not follow through is a fear of leadership, fear of making the decision,
fear of followers and fear of failure. This is again most noticeable in an elected
position, where the role becomes more important (prestigious) than taking any
action. Promises are made, never kept. Rhetoric is spoken, action never taken.
The Pink Floyd song, Dogs, states it correctly when they sing, “You have to be
trusted by the people that you lie to…” If they fear failure, why do they think
we will not notice that they do? In the subsequent election cycle, they point
their fingers, make excuses and continue the lies, yet we ignore their track record,
as if history does not matter, and believe them anew when they say their positions
and will be accountable for their promises, only to be disappointed again.

As a person in leadership – be
bold.Napoleon Hill, in his book The Law
of Success in Sixteen Lessons, wrote a lesson teaching Self-Confidence.Leadership is having self-confidence, being
bold, be willing to make mistakes, take responsibility and be honest.Lead with integrity.Now, those are the traits / people I prefer
to follow…